Few people in Croatia are ready to admit that the Međimurje region in the northern Croatia is the one where the best Croatian wines are made. On the other hand, few winemakers in Croatia can say that their sparkling wine is being exported to France. David Štampar, the owner and chief winemaker in Štampar family winery is one of those whose sparkling wines have gotten international accolades. It’s a family winery, run by the father-son team, Bojan and David, and the two of them have improved the quality of the wines in the past 20 years significantly. The father has built one of the nicest wine cellars in the region, and son David is using the family tradition and the best methods of winemaking available to produce excellent wines.
Most of their wines are white, as one would expect in Međimurje: local indigenous favourite pušipel, graševina, zeleni silvanac, rhein riesling, chardonnay, pinot grigio, sauvignon and yellow moscatto are the varieties that the family bottles each year. In addition to the high-level varietal wine, they also sell wine in the one litre bottle, labelled “Pol-Pol” (meaning “half-and-half”, which is also written on the label, along with the phrase written in around dozen other languages), and meant to be consumed as a gemišt. And that blend of graševina, pušipel, rhein riesling and sauvignon has proven to be ideal for that purpose. They are also very proud of their wonderful red wine, called “Sveti Urban”, a blend of cabernet sauvignon and gamay, one of the rare premium red wines from the region.
And then there are the sparkling wines, one white and one rose, both made using the traditional method of secondary fermentation in the bottle. Urban white extra brut is a premium sparkling wine, made from pušipel, with wonderfully recognisable varietal flavour accompanied with rich beads, 12 percent alcohol content and refreshing acids. Urban rose extra brut is made from cabernet sauvignon, also has 12 percent alcohol and increased complexity of flavours, when compared to the still wines of the same variety. This rose sparkling wine is an excellent aperitif, and both should be chilled to 6-8°C.
